


Whispering shadows

by Bubbleairhead



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Recovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-01 12:30:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10921839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bubbleairhead/pseuds/Bubbleairhead
Summary: Set after the war, cannon but ignores the 19 years later chapter.Sirius Black makes an unexpected return and in doing so makes one witch question her life and the route it has taken.Rating for later chapters, this is gonna be a slow burn but lots of fluff





	1. chapter 1

A/N set after the 7th book by about 7 years. Cannon up till the 19 years later chapter, or at least I hope it will be, I may add a few references to things that could have happened but just didn’t appear in the books. Sirius/Hermione fic, how Sirius is still alive is explained pretty early and does stick to the cannon time line, Slowish burn, which is not like me, usually write one shots. Hope you enjoy  
Disclaimer – I own nothing to do with harry potter or its characters, this is a fan fiction based on the world created by J.K.Rowling

Dark Whispers  
Chapter 1

The veil began to flutter despite the otherwise perfect stillness of the room, the stench of death filled the air. The veil was being disturbed, someone refused to stay down in the depths.  
The veil stood in the centre of the room on raised dais, empty and unused now for many hundreds of years, death by dementor had seemed preferable if that could be believed, but Harry had made sure that none ever entered this room again after the war was over. Kingsley had given his word and stayed true to it, sealing off the room that had once been the seat of justice in the wizarding world, but it was still watched. You never knew what lurked just beyond the veil, and what would break through one day...  
No one escaped the eternal torment that lay beyond, that is except one.  
The air stirred, whispers grew in the air, some seemed of encouragement, others of rage. One ragged breath in particular became louder, downing out the others.  
With a smacking sound a hand appeared on the ground at the foot of the veil soon followed by a head and torso clambering forward. Soon a whole body, seemingly climbing through the solid floor just the other side of the veil.  
The man, bloodied and filthy, pulled himself away from the curtain collapsing onto his back, what little reserves of strength he appeared to have all but spent.  
His eyes initially dark began to lighten, as if stormclouds were parting allowing his inner light to shine through, melodic laugher passed his lips  
“ I made it” he whispered before drawing breath, continuing to laugh, his eyes began to slowly close as he made out a figure in the darkness coming towards him, he could no longer keep his eyes open let alone fight, they could hardly be worse than those he had just escaped from. He welcomed the darkness catching a few words before he did. 

“bloody hell ‘mione its Sirius”

“’mione?” he thought as darkness welcomed him with open arms, the word stirred up feelings of warmth and security in him  
“I can sleep safe…”  
His Eyes closed and resting in the warm arms of sleep, something he had not experience in more years than he would come to realise. Sirius was clueless to the commotion going on around him as people were running around, checking nothing had followed him up from the deep.  
He also had no knowledge that when a medi witch began to levitate him to take him to St Mungo’s that another witch had grabbed his hand and whispered in his ear  
“Don’t worry Sirius I’ve got you now”  
The words he didn’t remember but the warm breath on his cheek, the gentle kiss on his head and the smell of old parchment, that he did.

 

Kudos make me smile and reviews make my heart sing!!!


	2. chapter 2

A/NSo time line for updates you are looking at one a week, I make no promises on length, if I feel a chapter is finished im not gonna fill it with rubbish. Thanks to my unofficial beta for the first chapter, trust me it was needed.

Disclaimer – I own nothing to do with Harry Potter or it’s characters, this is a fan fiction based on the world created by J.K.Rowling

 

 

 

Dark Whispers

Chapter 2

 

 

 

Sleep.

 

Sirius never realised how much he used to take it for granted. The ability to shut one’s eyes and not have to think or act for hours at a time. Life, or undeath as was probably the closest term for what it was, in the deep was a long unending day. Constantly suffering, always hungry, always thirsty and pain. The pain never dulled or faded.

 

Sleep

 

It was in the arms of sleep he lay now but not on a cloud of dreams. The memory of where he had been still fresh, was all he could think of. He could see the helpless faces of other people, too far to touch but close enough that their suffering was shared.

The creatures in the deep, he would never think of them again, but his mind had other ideas.

 

Sleep.

At least he now had that.

Voices broke through the barren landscape of his nightmare. Hushed whispers, he cringed at the thought. The whispers only meant one thing, this was a new trick of theirs, he had never escaped.

 

Sirius snapped his eyes open and immediately began to run. You could always run but they always got you in the end.

A pair of strong arms grabbed him from behind, Sirus threw his head back, colliding with something, he heard a muffled noise and surprisingly the arms let go, something he did not expect to happen so he failed to catch himself from falling forwards and ended up on heap on the floor. Arms thrown over his head protectively and there he remained.

 

 

 

 

Hermione had remained by Sirius’ side whilst the St Mungo’s team tended his wounds, One Doctor had asked her to leave. He only had to ask once, the glare he receive insured he would not ask again. Ron arrived a short time later informing Hermione that the veil was secure then stood staring in disbelief at the man lying in the bed.

“How’d he do it ‘Mione. It’s not possible” he mumbled

“I don’t know, but he did” Hermione replied not raising her gaze from Sirius’ face “Does Harry know?”

“Not yet” Ron replied, causing Hermione to snap her head round and glare at him.

“Ronald Weasley, you go and tell Harry this instant!”

Ron shifted uncomfortably on the spot under her gaze. He and Hermione had a fragile friendship, one they had yet to fully rebuild since they had ended their relationship four years prior.

“Easy ‘Mione, I owled him that he needed to get here asap, that someone was here that he needed to see. Couldn’t leave my post to tell him in person and didn’t think it was the sort of thing that should be sent via owl”

Hermione let out a breath, her shoulders sagging, causing her thick hair to fall forward.

“You’re right Ron, I’m sorry” she smiled weakly at him. He returned her smile and was about to reply when a commotion could be heard outside.

“WHAT!!!! WHERE IS HE???”

Ron marched to the door “I’ll get him to settle before he comes in” he said over his shoulder “Poor bloke needs some peace”

 

With that, Ron left the room leaving Hermione once again on her own with Sirius. He was thinner than she remembered him being, scars were littered all over his face and arms and, she was sure, everywhere else on his body. The freshest of them was a 12-inch-long scratch down his right arm, it had still been bleeding when Ron and Hermione had found him, the Mediwitch had said it could be healed but the scar could never be. His hair was certainly longer, tickling his elbows on the bed and a thick bushy beard now covered his face. Hermione smirked, thinking how outraged Sirius would be if he could see his own appearance now, he had always had a vain streak. Many mornings during her summer at Grimmauld place it had been Sirius she was waiting for to vacate the bathroom.

Hermione was still studying him when the door clicked and Ron re-entered the room, shortly followed by Harry.

Harry went pale when he saw the figure in the bed, beaten, battered and in need of a shave but it was defiantly his godfather.

“What…. I don’t understand how. I was told it was impossible. That he was dead” Harry whispered

“We don’t know Harry. We don’t even know if he’ll remember”

Harry walked closer to the bed and sat in the unoccupied chair across from Hermione, words appeared to be failing him. He carefully reached out and held Sirius’ hand and whispered in his ear.

“Welcome home Padfoot, you’ve missed quite a bit, not all good but not all bad”

 

 

 

Harry, Ron and Hermione remained with Sirius, whispering amongst themselves for several more hours before Sirius opened his eyes and lunged for the door. Ron grabbed him

“Sirius mate calm down you’ve not fully recovered yet” Sirius then threw his head back, colliding with Ron’s nose with a noticeable crack, causing him to drop Sirius “Bloody hell” Ron muttered thickly with blood running down his face.

The three of them stood staring at Sirius, not knowing what to do, all still in shock over the what had just happened. Hermione was the first to move, she crouched on the floor next to Sirius and gently reached out to touch his shoulder, withdrawing her hand when he flinched.

“Sirius” she whispered, he flinched again “Sirius” she said again, louder this time, his head snapped up and his eyes met hers.

“Hermione” he croaked

She smiled, Harry joined her on the floor and Sirius’ eyes swung to the emerald green eyes of his godson

“Cub” Sirius croaked yet again and smiled lowering his arms.

It had not been a cruel trick or a dream. He really was safe

 

 

**As always Kudos make me smile and reviews make my heart sing. Thanks to my beta.**


	3. chapter 3

A/N Whoop, loving all the love I’ve been getting. Had an offer to have it turned into an audio series, and after hearing an extract read aloud it really does sound good. Let me know what you think and I can linkage you all. Also, I warn you now, don’t get use to such frequent updates, it will usually be once a week but I don’t believe in holding a finished chapter back for the sake of it. You’re gonna get spoilt at the moment, chapters 4 and 5 just need running through my beta  
Disclaimer – I own nothing to do with Harry Potter or its characters, this is a fan fiction based on the world created by J.K.Rowling

Dark Whispers  
Chapter 3

 

Sirius had allowed Harry to help him back into bed where he had quickly dozed back off into dreams. Ron had left to get his nose looked at, it was very definitely broken, but he didn’t seem to mind. If anything his parting look at Sirius had been one of pity. This left Harry and Hermione to keep watch, an unspoken agreement between them that Sirius would not be left alone. So, they sat in silence, unwilling to risk disturbing Sirius again.

After a few hours, Ron stuck his head back in the room. He had been sitting watch outside the door once his nose had been repaired.  
“Hey guys, I’m gonna head off, all quiet out here don’t think there’s gonna be any trouble. Kingsley has guards posted down the corridor, no one’s getting in. Let me know if you need anything”  
Shortly after arriving at St Mungo’s, news that Sirius Black was alive had spread like wild fire through the wizarding community and within the hour reports had been trying to sneak in, including Harrys old ‘friend’ Rita Skeeter.  
Harry thanked Ron for his help, Ron simply nodded and left.  
Harry sat back in his chair and heaved a sigh, shadows evident under his eyes and his eye lids drooping. Hermione put her arm round him, Harry returned the gesture and hugged her in return.  
“You should go home too Harry, I’ll stay with him” Harry started to protest but before he could speak Hermione pulled back and glared at him, effectively silencing him “Ginny needs you more right now”  
Happily married for 3 years now, Harry and Ginny were expecting their first child any day, her pregnancy had not been an easy one.  
Harry stared for several seconds before letting his head fall in defeat.  
“Your right” He began to stand, leaning down he pressed a kiss to Hermione’s head “Thank you”  
Hermione smiled as Harry walked out the room, having to give him one last shooing gesture with her hand before he finally left.

 

 

Hours later and Hermione continued her vigil, midnight had come and gone. She stood to stretch her legs staring out the window which overlooked a private inner courtyard. The godfather of Harry Potter being escorted by 2 thirds of the golden trio had been rushed to an executive private room. She grinned at the thought that after all this time people still went out of their way to do things for them. A noise disturbed her musings. She turned to see Sirius, eyes open, sitting up on the bed. He had turned to look at her and a smile graced his features, seeming to chase away some of the shadows on his face but it did not reach his eyes.  
“Water?” He gasped.  
Hermione almost tripped over her own feet in a rush to pour him a glass and pass it to him, a small chuckle arose from Sirius as he accepted the glass and downed it in one.  
“Thank you” He passed the glass back into her waiting hand “St Mungo’s?”  
“Yes, you been here since yesterday” She bit her tongue from asking the questions rushing to get out.  
“You found me?”  
“Me and Ron yes, we were researching in the library when the alert sounded. When were heard where from we couldn’t move fast enough” Hermione admitted, she stared at him in wonder, still not really believing he was here.  
Sirius looked away, his brow creasing. He appeared to be struggling to remember.  
“Where was I?” He asked snapping his eyes back to hers  
“You don’t know?”  
He shook his head.  
“Not really, I remember….things about what or where I was but it’s all so mixed up, Hermione tell me. What happened to me?”  
Hermione sat next to him on the bed so she could see him properly. He looked tortured, pained but not physically, his soul was scarred and she could see its dim light in his eyes. If he didn’t remember should she tell him?  
The veil as a form of punishment was taught in 7th year history of magic, so he would instantly know what it was when told. Should she tell him what he had been through? Put him through the torture of knowing?

 

_6 years earlier_  
_Hermione was taking her seat in History of Magic for what would be the final time, after the war she had decided to return to Hogwarts to complete her education, though Professor McGonagall had made it clear she had no need to and she and her other teachers would hand over the grades she deserved. But Hermione had refused, she wanted to learn and earn them. More importantly, she wanted to go back to the place she loved and learned to love it again. Her home and sanctuary that was Hogwarts had become a battlefield. That was not the last memory of Hogwarts that she wanted. So here she was in her final History of Magic class before her N.E.W.T.S. sandwiched between Luna and Ginny on the front row._  
_Professor Binns floated through the wall and continued to the centre of the room, past his usual place. The class perked up at this inconsistency and seemed attentive, for some this may have been the first time in 7 years._  
_“Today’s lesson will not be marked or graded on. Today I will teach one of the darkest chapters of our history. It is not something we as wizards are proud of but I believe it should be taught like all things so history may never repeat itself”_  
_The entire class seemed to lean forward at this, an important piece of history that didn’t appear on exams. Confusion and curiosity swept through the class._  
_“Today I am going to teach you all about the veil”_

As always Kudos make me smile and reviews make my heart sing. Thanks again to my new beta.


	4. chapter 4

A/N  Been staring at this chapter for a couple of days now, been playing around with and still not happy but here it is. Hope you enjoy. Also for those of you that have commented, I’m using the description of the veil from the book not the film depiction. Sorry for the confusion.

Disclaimer – I own nothing to do with harry potter or its characters, this is a fan fiction based on the world created by J.K.Rowling

 

Dark Whispers

Chapter 4

**_“Today I am going to teach you all about the veil”_ **

_A hush fell over the room, Hermione looked around, a few students looked grim some curious and few, the muggleborns like herself Hermione noted, looked downright puzzled._

_“I just need to fetch a scroll for this lesson, please remain seated, I shall return shortly” Professor Binns then floated away through the opposite wall. Unusually the class remained silent._

_Hermione glanced at the girls either side of her, they both looked grim._

_“What’s the veil?” Hermione whispered to Ginny._

_Ginny shook her head_

_“A mistake” she replied_

_“Luna?” She enquired turning to the blonde on her right_

_“Something even the Mumbling Wargles don’t like” Was Lunas response not looking up from her lap._

_A tap on her shoulder caught her attention and she turned to the stormy grey eyes of Draco Malfoy. A tentative friendship had developed between the 2 over the last year. Being 2 of only 6 ‘eight year’ students to return. One Gryffindor, herself. Two Hufflepuffs Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones. Two Ravenclaw Terry Boot and Sue Li and one Slytherin, Draco. They had been thrown together more than once. They had a separate accommodation from their original houses, almost like a 5 th house sharing dormitories and a common area and McGonagall had introduced an Advanced Magic class for the returning 8th years as a thank you of sorts for coming back. She and Draco had become unofficial studying partners and in doing so found they had more in common than they had realised._

_“The Veil is a part of wizard history we don’t like to talk about, all of us who grew up in wizarding families have probably heard of it, but I bet most just know it was something we did very wrong”_

_“Do you know what it is?”_

_“Yes, and I would be willing to tell you more but I suspect you’ll learn more about it today then I know”_

_“Is it so bad?” Hermione whispered back, glancing at the wary looks some of the other students wore._

_“Yes, but…. Haven’t you…?” Draco hesitated before coming closer, practically lying across his desk so he could speak as quietly as possible “Haven’t you already seen it?”_

_“I don’t think so” Hermione replied looking confused._

_“ I was under the impression that the veil is how Sirius Black died” Draco breathed back._

_A look of clarity crossed Hermione’s face, she was about to reply when professor Binns re-entered the room, a long scroll floated behind him, he cleared his throat and Hermione jumped back around but Draco had already seen her face._

_A paper plane landed on the desk in front of Hermione whilst Binns was directing the scroll to hang from the ceiling. She open it and in Draco’s perfect script read_

_We’ll talk later_

_I know you’ll need to_

_Hermione had just enough time to shove the note in her pocket before Binns turned to face the class and the scroll unfurled._

_Cold dread filled Hermione as she recognised the image etched on it, the stone arch on the dais, the ghost like fabric hanging down. She could almost hear the whispers now. She gasped, her breath caught. Ginny reached over and grabbed her hand, she looked over and saw the same recognition in her eyes. How could she have forgotten, Ginny had seen it too as well as Luna, turning the other way she reached out her hand and grasped Lunas, the girl squeezed her fingers in return but did not look up but Hermione could have sworn she heard her whisper_

_“Wrong”._

_She returned her attention to the front as Professor Binns began talking._

_“There will be no questions and answers today, I will state the facts and then you will leave, this lesson never happened. A lot of people have tried to get me to stop teaching this over the years but I believe we learn from our mistakes._

_In the day of Merlin and Morgan Le Fay, the first ministry of sorts was founded in ancient Britain. At the time dabbling in the nether realms was common place which is how we come to live in a world of dark creatures, creatures that were not originally from this plane. A plane was found that appeared empty, but when entered through one of the many doors it once possessed, endless torture began for the person who travelled there. This plane was studied for many years, the people who spent time there did not age but each time they appeared to come back less than they once were. In their ‘grand wisdom’ it was decided that this realm would be good for torture and information extraction so all but one door to this realm was destroyed so the occupants would have no escape, the door left was anchored to the original court room of the kingdom, the archway displayed on this scroll._

_Many years this was used as a device of information gathering, each time those sentenced coming back less than they were, though no one could understand why. Because of this, information gathering was not always successful, so instead it became a prison. From what we can gather hundreds if not thousands of witches and wizards were sentenced to ‘the veil’ as it then became known. Every crime had the same punishment in the dark days. Life in the veil. Men, women and children”_

_A shudder went through the room at this statement but Professor Binns did not stop and continued on._

_“After the veil had been in operation for 30 years, a rebellion of sorts occurred, the court was rioted against and a great battle took place. The veil sustained a crack in the arch, disrupting the spells binding it shut, people began to pour out. Damaged and broken the people began to change in the midst of the battle. They became what we now know as Dementors. For as it was later discovered the Realm itself was the darkest of dark creatures and eroded people’s souls, helped by daemons that resided within its body, the very creature that the Christian devil is based on. These daemons feeding on the pain and suffering of the occupants of the veil, crippling them, so in time the taint of the realm would be able to change them easier. Making them Dementors, a creature that then spends the rest of its life trying to replace the soul it lost, a walking pit of despair into which all happiness flows never to return._

_Those that remained in the wizarding world that had short exposure to the veil also eventually began to change into dementors. The taint it seemed once inside, never let’s go, though takes longer than those who remained within the veil._

_The Dementor wars we have studied and, as you should know from your previous lessons, lasted for 50 years before the Patronous charm was discovered, the Dementors were driven back and the daemons that led them were destroyed. Two hundred thousand witches and wizards around the world dead. At the time our numbers were so few it nearly drove us to extinction._

_The Dementors you know were once one of you, we delved too deep into the nether realms, sanctions were put down, experimentation with the nether realms is now illegal in every country. No one, not even dark wizards have touched them since. We don’t know what’s out there, and may never know till it’s too late. The Veil has so many bindings on it that it is hoped nothing will ever come though again, who knows what else is down there. This lesson isn’t a warning about tampering with what you don’t know but a lesson in how we treated each other, we created our own nightmares. Learn from this”_

_Binns then waved at the scroll which rolled up and followed Binns as he left the room._

_Hermione, now pale faced stared at where the sketch of the veil hung mere moments before and whispered_

_“Poor Sirius”_

 

 

To tell him that he is probably going to turn into the very things that spent 13 years tormenting him or to lie, he may figure it out himself. Hermione was torn.

“Hermione” Sirius grabbed her arm to get her attention “Where was I?”

Hermione swallowed, decision made.

“Do you remember the fight at the Department of Mysteries?” She asked

“Yes, but I don’t really remember how it ended”

“Well you see, you never got as far as the end Sirius”

“ I don’t understand” Sirius replied tightening his grip on her arm “What happened to me?”

“You fell” Hermione looked up at him “You fell, through the veil”

“Oh…” Sirius dropped his arm and looked away seemingly lost for words for a minute before simply saying “Well… that’s fucked up”

 

 

 

**As always Kudos make me smile and reviews make my heart sing.**


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